You can’t beat freshly cooked crab just treated simply like this and served with some brown bread and butter or toast.
A 1kg crab, cooked
50g good quality mayonnaise or homemade
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
Lemon wedges and small salad and herb leaves to serve
Remove the main claws and smaller claws from the crab and using a steak hammer or rolling pin, crack them and remove all of the white meat, putting all of the shells to one side for a soup or stock. Remove the main brown body shell by pulling it away from the under body. With a teaspoon scoop out all of the brown meat in the main shell discarding any liquid. Cut the body into 4 with a heavy chopping knife and carefully with a lobster pick or skewer remove as much white meat as possible being careful to avoid any of the fine shell. You can cut through the shell again to access more white meat, it’s a little tedious but worth the effort. I usually make a stock and reduce it to concentrate it and freeze it in liquid pouches.
To serve spoon the white and brown onto serving plates with a little pile of salad leaves, mayonnaise and a wedge of lemon
Mayonnaise
2 egg yolks (at room temperature)
2tsp white wine vinegar
1tsp English mustard
2tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
Freshly ground white pepper
100ml olive oil mixed with 200ml vegetable oil
Juice of half a lemon (optional)
Put the egg yolks, vinegar, mustards and salt and pepper into a stainless steel or glass
bowl (don't use an aluminium bowl, or it will make the mayonnaise go grey) on a
damp cloth to stop it slipping. Mix well with a whisk, then gradually trickle the oils
into the bowl, whisking continuously. If the mayonnaise is getting too thick, add a
few drops of water and continue whisking the oil. When the oil is all incorporated,
taste and re-season if necessary and add a little lemon juice
